Rihanna Steve Granitz/FilmMagic
No one does the Met Gala like Rihanna — but this year, a last-minute illness kept her from taking a bow.
Although the singer, 36, initially planned to grace Us with her presence at fashion’s biggest night on Monday, May 6, a sources told People and Entertainment Tonight that she was ultimately forced to cancel last minute after coming down with the flu.
Rihanna previously teased her look for the event, which takes place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, telling Vogue last month that she planned to incorporate her many businesses into her outfit. “I’m gonna wear Fenty something! Fenty Beauty, Fenty Skin, Fenty Savage,” she shared.
Rihanna asserted, however, that the look would be more modest than her looks from the past.
Rihanna attends The 2023 Met Gala. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
“I’ve done so much s—t in my life. I’ve had my nipples out, my panties out. But now, those are the things which, I guess as a mom and an evolved young lady — emphasis on young lady — these are things I feel like I would never do 1715071161,” she told Vogue.
Although the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala fundraiser has been happening since 1948, it wasn’t until Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour took over in the 1990s that the event became the Super Bowl of fashion. Click through to see some of the best Met Gala dresses of all time from the red carpet!
At last year’s ball, Rihanna made a grand entrance in Valentino.
The Grammy winner honored the theme “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” — which celebrated the late designer — in a rose-covered white gown. After reaching the top of the iconic Met staircase, then-pregnant Rihanna showed off her baby bump by removing the outer layer of her ensemble, revealing a sleeveless dress that hugged her curves. She accentuated the look with a diamond statement necklace, oversized lashes that came in the form of sunglasses and a bold red lip. (Rihanna and boyfriend ASAP Rocky welcomed their second son, Riot Rose, in August 2023. Baby No. 1, son RZA, was born in May 2022.)
In the same Vogue interview, Rihanna reflected on her favorite Met Gala looks, praising the yellow gold Guo Pei masterpiece she wore at the 2015 soirée as her best.
“Nobody will ever forget that and I will never forget the feeling of discovering that designer based off of the design challenge that Anna [Wintour] gave me,” Rihanna told the publication.
